Understanding Our Spirit Man Part 2
Understanding Our Spirit Man Part 2
If you don’t understand your “spirit man” how do you know if God is leading you, or if it is your heart, mind or desires leading you? You don’t. It has been said that God the Father is the heart of God (John 3:16,17). Jesus is the face of God and the Holy Spirit is the voice of God. The Holy Spirit speaks to our “spirit man”. If you don’t know your “spirit man” you don’t know if what you do is God’s telling you or if it is your decision.
When we are saved, born again, our spirit is born again, revived, made alive unto God. Now we are to compare spiritual things with spiritual and if you are spiritual, you will judge all things see 1st Corinthians 2:10-16. If you are looking at things in the flesh, reasoning things with your own mind or the world’s ways, you’re not being led by the Spirit of God.
Paul lays the foundation and being led by the Holy Spirit using Abraham as an example in Romans chapter 4. But understanding our spirit man is explained in great detail in Romans chapter 8. When you read Romans 8:1 – what do you think that verse is telling you?
Romans 8:1 KJV There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Many people read that verse misunderstanding what God is saying. they say – I think it says if I walk after the Spirit and not after my flesh I have no condemnation. That is not what God is telling us. Need proof? If you are truly saved, born again, you were not in the flesh. Look at verse 9 –
Romans 8:9 KJV But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
What God uses Paul to tell us is there is no condemnation to us. What Paul is telling us is there is no condemnation to us who are in Christ Jesus. Condemnation means – a judicial act declaring one guilty and dooming him to punishment. If you are in Christ, you walk after the Spirit – the Holy Spirit – because you are in Christ. You no longer walk after the flesh. How do I know this? Verse 9 – “ But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwell in you. Then in verse 10 we are told, if Christ be in you – the body is dead.
Question: Is Christ in you? Are you “in Christ”? If yes, then your body is dead.
You say, but wait, my body is alive, I am walking around on this earth. No, your body is not alive. As we explained in Understanding Your Spirit Man Part 1 there are a lot of bodies in cemeteries. They are not alive. It is your “spirit” that gives your body/your flesh life.
The hard thing for people to understand is just because they walk around on this earth, does not make them alive or alive unto God. The “natural” man – the unsaved – look at my body/your body walking around and they see the flesh doing “things” and they say you are alive. They do not understand we are spirit beings just living in a house/a body. Whether saved or lost, we are all spirit beings living in a house/a body. Some of us are alive unto God and others are dead unto God. Regardless, our flesh, our body is just dirt that God gave life to by putting a spirit into us (breathing the breath of life) and when God did that, we became a living soul (a living person with a mind, will and emotions) see Understanding Our Spirit Man Part 1
So you have all these spirit beings running around the earth who live in a body. Some of these spirit beings are alive unto God (saved/born-again), they know God and live for God. The rest of the spirit beings do not know God, they are dead to God, they are called “the natural man” see 1 Corinthians 2:14. How is this determined? How does a spirit being get saved? The “natural man” unsaved spirit being, hears the word of God (Romans 10:17) and decides to believe it which becomes faith. Then the word of God (Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is quick (alive) and powerful (produce great things) and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder (separating into parts) of soul (mind/will/emotions) and spirit (breath, praise, worship, etc.) and of the joints and marrow (connected body parts) and is a discerner (sees the difference between) of the thoughts and intents of the heart (the seat of our emotions and the gateway to our soul).
We discussed the thoughts and intents of the heart in Saved In You Mind Or Heart and we will elaborate on how this all comes together in the coming posts. The point here however, is when a spirit man believes God with all his heart and receives the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart as his Lord and Saviour he gets saved. His spirit is made alive now unto God. The Holy Spirit comes to live within him. And now as a believer, you have a choice on what to do with your dead body/your flesh. You can choose to live for God and be lead by the Holy Spirit, to walk in the Spirit and to live in the Spirit as Paul says in Galatians 5 or you can choose to live for your flesh. Think things through in the flesh, the world’s ways. Paul gives a brief explanation in Romans 8 of the saved spirit, born-again believer. We will pick it up from here next time.
Have a Blessed Day!
Understanding Our Spirit Man Part 1
Man is used gender neutral. I say man referring to mankind.
Whether saved or lost, we all have a spirit man. You received this spirit man when God gave you life.
Question: If you are a good plumber, carpenter, technician, musician, lawyer, doctor, builder – what part of you is doing that activity?
Okay – now let’s look at – when you cook, clean, do laundry, go shopping – what “you” is doing these activities?
John 6:63 KJV
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Remember, when God formed man from the dust of the ground, man did not have life, he was a pile of dirt. It wasn’t until God breathed into him the breath of life (spirit) and man became a living soul, (Man then had a mind, will and emotions). So what caused Adam to have life? The breath of life – giving him a spirit.
Your flesh, in and of itself, can do nothing. It is just flesh, a body, a house – there are a lot of bodies in cemeteries, they cannot do anything. But put their spirit back in them and they come to life again. People spend lots of time and money pumping up their body, exercising, painting their body, cleaning their body, manicuring their body and many other functions.
So what determines what your body does? Two things – your heart and your soul. An example of this is Adam. After God made Adam and breathes into Adam the breath of life – Adam could have just laid there or stood up and done nothing. But Adam’s soul (mind, will and emotions) wanted to explore as we see in Genesis 2:15 – 20.
I ask God “lots” of questions. I asked God, How do I walk in the Spirit? How do I live in the Spirit? And how do I be led by the Spirit? Christians are told to do all 3 of these in Galatians 5:16, 18, 25.
[16] This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
[17] For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
[18] But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
[19] And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
It wasn’t until God showed me all the decisions we make as man (mankind), come from our mind, our soul, that I understood. We think things through, we research ideas or products and processes. We study applications. We will look at what kind of a fitness program we start based on our research. We research products we buy, how to clean our house or how we take care of our property (land, house or products). We determine how we will do things based on our research.
We look at how do we raise our children, how to have a good marriage, what type of work we should pursue. We investigate geographic locations on where we should live, cost of living and retirement or savings. We base our decisions on our thoughts, our research, our emotions and even our desires. These are all soul decisions.
When we seek answers for direction – what job should I take, should I get a divorce, should I sell the house – are all questions we reason in our heart and mind – Our soul. When you ask someone, did God tell you to do this or that? And they do not know the answer – it is because they’re so used to making their decisions based on what they think – their soul. They live for themself. They live the way “they think”. Their way. Themself. We all do this.
Society – aka the world’s way – tells us to get educated in a field, work hard and you will make your worldly desires come true. Although they do not say worldly. Society also tells us to follow their ways, have their morals and do things the way they tell you to do them. This is not bad in itself – but when society’s ways go against God’s ways – we clash – Houston, we have a problem. Sadly, Christians, instead of being a light in this world, have compromised.
Mankind as a whole is not very patient. Especially today, in the 21st century, everything is instant. But God is very patient and sometimes we do not want to wait for God to teach us, show us or guide us, so we make decisions that negatively affect our life. And when you choose to be led by the Spirit – your soul – your mind – is going to give you a hissy fit. You’ll come up with all kinds of excuses why you should not let yourself listen to and hear what God is trying to tell you. Need an example? Okay.
We listen to our children play. And we hear them play. But if one starts to cry and we are busy doing something else, we don’t hear them. The results could be minor or catastrophic depending on why they cried. When we act out what our mind/soul tells us, or what our flesh is desiring, we aren’t listening to God. We are listening to our mind our soul and leaving God out of the decision. Keep in mind that our soul’s attributes include imagination, conscience, memory, reasoning and our affections.
There are many, many people – Christians included – who live life and do things based on what they think. They try to reason things out and then they act on what they decided. Sure they may pray about it or seek godly counsel – but their decisions are usually based on what their heart and mind decide. I was guilty of this for years, even after I got saved. But then God started teaching me things I knew nothing about – as a Christian – how to be led by the Spirit of God and not my own will or my own mind. We will look at this method of life, next time. God loves you – never forget that.
A New Immortal Body
When Mary saw Jesus after his resurrection, Jesus told her not to touch him, (John 20:17). Jesus when He was crucified – his body was put in the tomb and the tomb sealed. Scripture is very clear then Jesus went down into hell – Psalm 16:10 KJV “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” and
Acts 2:27-32 “[27] Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
[28] Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
[29] Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
[30] Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
[31] He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
[32] This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.”
Jesus went down into hell preachd to those in hell, took the keys back see Revelation 1:18 and on his way up he stops and sees Mary at the tomb. He tells Mary not to touch him because he as the high priest needed to pour the blood over the mercy seat as Paul explains in the book of Hebrews.
Because the blood of Jesus Christ was perfect without spot or blemish, he was our Passover Lamb to pay for the sins of the world. And when Jesus came back to meet everybody in Galilee and Jerusalem he had his glorified body a body with flesh and bone and no blood. A body everyone could now touch. Just like he told Thomas in John 20:24-29.
When people die, they get a spiritual body, like Jesus had when he saw Mary. People, in their spiritual body go to heaven if they’re truly saved, they are in Christ” or they go to hell if they rejected Jesus Christ and do not believe what God said.
In hell, there is torment see Luke 16 verse 28. But hell is not their final resting place we are told in Revelation 20:14 – death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. So their final place is the lake of fire.
For the believer in Christ – when they die God gives them a spiritual body see 1st Corinthians 15 and they are immediately present with the Lord see 2nd Corinthians 5:6-8. That is why Paul said in 1st Corinthians 5 verse 5 – to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. There was a situation in 1st Corinthians 5 of incest and the church wasn’t rebuking it so Paul rebuked the church.
So when do we get a resurrected body? A body like Jesus has? Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 15:50 – flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God – There is going to be a sound like a trumpet and all believers, God is going to change. Our body is literally going to change to an incorruptible body, a body with no blood, we will be immortal – we will never die.
Paul explains this in more detail to the church at Thessalonica in first Thessalonians 4:13-18. Paul says Jesus is going to come again, with a shout and the voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God and the dead, those who are in Christ, believers, are going to come up out of their graves. Your mother, father, family, friends, only if they were “in Christ”. They will come up out of their grave and those of us living on earth will be caught up and our bodies will be changed like Paul explained in 1st Corinthians 15:15 and we will meet Jesus Christ in the air in the clouds, not on earth and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
You see, those who died in Christ have a spiritual body right now and they are in heaven. But when the catching up, sometimes called The Rapture, comes – they will come back to earth, get their body that God has now changed into an incorruptible body, a body with no blood, a resurrected body that is immortal. And they come up out of the grave with their spirit and soul now no longer in a spiritual body but their new and resurrected body a body like Jesus had when he met the disciples in Galilee & Jerusalem. The saved, our bodies are changed and we are caught up with them – in the air and we all meet together with Jesus in the air in our new immortal body that has flesh and bone but no blood.
One final point for today, if you really study out the words “that day” or “the day of the Lord” you find “that day” is a time of judgment. The tribulation – the Great Tribulation – it is a time of judgment from God. The focus of this part is not the second coming however, there are many scriptures that say, including Zachariah 14, where we are told when Jesus comes back he will stand on a mountain and the mountain will split. This coming is physical to earth where he steps on earth again. The first part of his second coming was in the air, the clouds, his feet never touch the earth at that time.
Share what God has done for you.
Shedding This Body Part 2 of 2
Answers to our quiz in Shedding This Body Part 1 of 2
1. A “celestial” body is a heavenly body. A terrestrial body is an earthly body.
2. The 5 characteristics of our “resurrected” body are: incorruptible, raised in glory, power, spiritual – not earthly, immortal (vs.54).
3. Our resurrected body does not have flesh and blood. True or False
True. No blood but flesh and bone.
4. When do we get our resurrected body? At the catching up, sometimes called the rapture (vs 42 and verse 52 of 1 Corinthians 15).
5. What kind of body do those who have died have now? A spiritual body, a celestial body.
A spiritual body is not a fleshly body. There is no blood.
In Matthew 28:1-5 Mary Magalene & Mary went to the tomb/sepulchre. When they got there, there was a great earthquake, and they saw an angel of the Lord. the angel spoke and they could see the angel. The angel moved the tombstone away from Jesus’ tomb.
Matthew 28:9,10 Jesus shows up and Matthew says they held him by his feet and worship Him. Jesus tells them he’s going to meet up with all of them in Galilee. we see a similar account in Mark 16:9-14 and in Luke 24:39, Jesus tells them to touch him, handle him and see he has flesh and bone.
So Jesus’ glorified body had flesh and bone but no blood and in Luke 24:40-43 Jesus ate solid food, fish.
Some ask why the four Gospels give different accounts of things. If you were to take 12 people on a vacation when you got back you would see each of the 12 describe the vacation differently. That’s the same thing as the four Gospels. However, because the Scriptures are a living book and everything has a purpose, so do the four Gospels. God wanted me to explain the fundamentals of the four Gospels.
So I’m going to do this as briefly as I can and maybe sometime in the future we can cover it more in depth.
In Matthew you have Jesus being presented to the Jews as their long awaited Messiah. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. So you read details about prophecies being fulfilled like Jesus being born in Bethlehem, Jesus mentions things of the law, and in Matthew 5:17 Jesus says he is come to fulfill the law. Matthew contains Jewish backgrounds and Jewish references and mentions the tribulation.
Mark shows Jesus as a servant, as an ox. An ox serves the owner. You read a lot about Jesus healing, a lot of interactions with people. Jesus cast out many devils that indwelt people. Mark is where Jesus gives power to his disciples to heal, cast out devils – Mark concludes with Jesus telling his disciples to go and to those who believe (not just the disciples but those who believe) will cast out devils and speak with a “new” tongue, not an unknown tongue.
Luke shows Jesus as a man. You read about his boyhood, and a vivid explanation of his crucifixion is in Matthew 27 that was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies especially in Isaiah 53 – but Luke shows how Jesus handled it as a man. Luke shows Jesus’ walk on earth. Parables are in Matthew and Luke only and Luke, the focus is on Jesus the man so you read about the Good Samaritan, the sower, the prodigal son, Pharisees, publicans, sadducees and signs preceding the last days.
John – John is different than the other three Gospels. John focuses in on Jesus Christ as Lord – the Son of God – the Redeemer. John deals with eternity issues – that’s why being born again is in this book the Holy Ghost is mentioned many times and John is more spiritual mattered. In John we learn the power of prayer, the promise of the Holy Spirit – and John deals with Jesus’ resurrected body.
John tells us in John 20:11-17 when Jesus rose from the dead Mary Magdalena and Mary saw 2 angels and then they saw Jesus. They didn’t recognize Jesus until Jesus called Mary by her name. Mary knew then it was Jesus. First thing Jesus said next, “don’t touch me”. Why? I am Not Yet ascended to My Father.
Paul, a Pharisee who knew the law very well, explains all of this in the book of Hebrews chapters 9 and 10. Paul was a Jew who loved the Jewish people. But God called Paul to go to the Gentiles. So Paul obeys and in all of Paul’s letters in the New Testament they’re all written to the Gentiles except one, the book of Hebrews. He writes a letter/book to Jews, book of Hebrews. Hebrews explains things of the law and how Christ fulfilled the law.
When Mary saw Jesus after his resurrection and Jesus told her not to touch him, there was a reason. We will cover this next time. I must stop now or this may be too long. I do want to take this time and thank each and everyone of you that follow this blog and read these studies. I am truly thankful for each of you. My prayer and hope is these will set you free, your mind and your spirit and comfort you, strengthen you, and encourage you. and I hope you will share them with others to help people. I want to wish each and everyone of you a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. may God richly bless you.
Shedding This Body Part 1 of 2
Okay, so when you die, your flesh is buried, your spirit goes back to God who gave it (Ecc.12), and your soul (mind, will & emotions) go to heaven or hell, see our chart on 3-fold nature of man.
Did you ever wonder, when I die and my spirit and soul leave my body, what kind of a body will I have? People say we have a body like Jesus has – ahh, yes, but there is a catch and we will cover that in our next post.
I bet I could count on one hand, over the past 32 years of being saved and studying God’s word, how many times I have heard preaching or teaching on what our new body will be like. So I want to do something different today. I want you to discover what God says about this. So I have a short homework assignment for you.
Below I have posted 1 Corinthians 15:36-58 KJV and after you read that, then answer 5 questions at the end. Feel free to comment or post your answers in the comments. Then tomorrow, we will post the rest of this and show you “the catch”.
1 Corinthians 15:36-58
“Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
[37] And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain :
[38] But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
[39] All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
[40] There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
[41] There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
[42] So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
[43] It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
[44] It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
[45] And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
[46] Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
[47] The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
[48] As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
[49] And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
[50] Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
[51] Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
[52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
[53] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
[54] So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
[55] O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
[56] The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
[57] But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[58] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
5 QUESTIONS:
1. What is a “celestial” body and what is a “terrestrial” body?
2. Our “resurrected” body is raised with 5 characteristics, what are the 5?
3. Our resurrected body does not have flesh and blood. True or False
4. When do we get our new bodies?
5. So what kind of body do those who have already died, in Christ, now have?
Thanksgiving
When Friends & Family Leave
Genesis 12:1 KJV “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:”
Sometimes, God asks us to leave what we are familiar with and calls us to something new. If we are led by the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:14, we go. Put yourself in Abraham’s place. God tells him to leave his country, family and all he knew and go, without knowing where he was going or what he would do. Would you go?
God tells Abraham before he decides to go – Genesis 12:2 KJV “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:”
As many around the world celebrate giving God thanks, America sets the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving to God. Our founding fathers established Thanksgiving and Abraham Lincoln wrote the Proclamation in 1863.
Sometimes, God moves us and other times God moves other people in or out of your life. When God removes you or others, including your family, out of your life, it is most often because God wants to do something special with you, just like he did with Abraham and Joseph. If your desire in your heart is love for Jesus Christ, you truly love God in your heart, this request can be painful.
Friends, God loves you and he would not hurt you. Be thankful for the people God has in your life now because they may be gone tomorrow.
Package of Seeds
If you have a package of seeds, open the package and pick one seed. Pick up the seed and look at the seed. Is the seed alive or dead? Now if you set that seed on your kitchen counter – what will happen to the seed? Now put the seed in your pocket and carry it around with you. Will anything happen to the seed? Put the seed in with other “good” seeds, anything happen?
Okay, now take a dish from your kitchen and put some water in the dish. Then put the seed in the water on the dish. Let the seed sit in the water for a week to two weeks or for a month. What happens to the seed? The seed may “sprout” but without proper nutrition, and roots, eventually the seed will die.
In John 12:23-28 – the corn of wheat fall into the ground – he wasn’t talking about the spirit – but the soul – but if it die it brings forth much fruit.
Yes, the soul that sins will die and we all sin because we are born in the image of Adam. But in this context, Jesus was talking about John 12:25 KJV
“He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”
Remember, your soul is your mind, will and emotions and unless that dies to itself – it’s will, it’s thinking, it’s emotions – it will be like the sprout in the dish of water. And God made us all like “sprouts”.
When a person gets saved, their spirit is made alive, reborn. It is like now you are in nourished soil. But it is the soul (mind, will and emotions) (your “sprout”) that is saved from hell and the lake of fire. No matter how hard that sprout, in the dish of water, tries to produce fruit and grow, it can never grow or be nourished properly. Some may say, well what about hydroponics? Hydroponics is fine but it is not the way God intended or designed things. So you can try all the different religions in the world. You can even try good works and keeping the law, given to Jews only – not Gentiles, try to clean up your seed shell (your body) but if you do not do things the way God says, you will never have true life.
Everything on this earth feeds off everything planted in the earth. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, are all planted in dirt. Even man comes from dirt. Animals feed off grass & grain produced from dirt. Even fish feed off plants planted in dirt under the water. The dirt is like the Spirit, the Spirit of God. Just like Genesis 1 says – God created the heaven and the earth and the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters in Genesis 1:1,2 then God separated the waters and made dry land – dirt – Genesis 1:10,11,12 on the third day.
So if the Spirit of God is not revived or reborn in you, in your heart (soil), you are like a sprout trying to be a plant with missing ingredients and will never be a plant or tree, no matter what you do. No matter how many laws you try to keep, no matter how good you are, no matter if you go to church or not. But there is good news. If you are willing to let God take you and put you in good soil – dirt – (change your heart) and nourish you and give you water (nourish your mind/will and emotions) you will grow. You will start as a tender plant and when the weeds (type of trials/attacks from Satan) come, they are removed, you will continue with water and nourishment. You will grow into a fine plant and tree producing fruit and food for others. The interesting thing – not only does your plant produce fruit (your children both earthly & spiritual) but your plant or tree feeds others just like rabbits, birds, bugs or other animals might eat one of your berries, nuts, fruit or leaves. You will never get to this point if you never decided to let God take you out of your dish of water and plant you in Christ, nourish and water you.
The decisions we make can alter not only our life, but our future. Many times people just jump into something for whatever reasons. But if your seed lands on stony ground or shallow ground, not only will you not grow and become what God created you to be, but your fruit will not sprout or if it does sprout, it will be shallow, malnourished. And what ever decisions you make as the plant, the tree, your decisions affect your fruit and your leaves. And when you understand it is not you, the plant, keeping everything going but really the roots, you understand how helpless the plant is without the roots.
One day, God is going to ask each of us to give account of what he gave us. Choose to let go of your “religion”, your works, your ideas and ask God to forgive you of all your sin. Ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your heart and save your soul. Ask God to plant you in his word and in Christ.
Where’s The Food
In context, Jesus explains the bread (manna) that came down from heaven in the time of Moses and Jesus says he is the true bread from heaven in John 6:32. Jesus explains, which is really teaching on the differences of the spirit, soul and body.
When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Most people start to describe their flesh and the attributes of their flesh. But look deeper. Look like God looks at you. Now what do you see? Okay, still not there. Pretend your flesh was gone and you now see your heart, your motives, your affections and reasoning. Look deeper, look at your relationship with God.
See, in John 6 the people only saw the flesh of Jesus. That’s why when he said unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, they didn’t get it. All they saw was flesh. Jesus didn’t put out his arm and say take a nibble.
What is bread? What is bread used for? Food. Nourishment to sustain life. Was the life for the flesh? What is drink? We consume bread to feed us and sustain us and drink we swallow. In John 6:27 KJV “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.”
In John 6:35 Jesus said he is the bread of life. Anotherwords, if you want life, not for your flesh but for your soul and spirit, you need Jesus. The key is believing (a heart matter).
John 6:27 KJV “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Meat is nourishment, it is substance to sustain the flesh. But when you look in the context of what Jesus said in John 6:27 – he was saying don’t labour for substance that perishes. Things. More toys.
In John 6:53-65 Jesus makes it clear he is referring to the spirit not the flesh.
John 6:63 KJV
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Now look in the mirror. What do you see?
A Lighter Side – Who’s Steering
The Lord has shown me if people live their life based on what they think or know or understand, people will miss the boat. This series on spirit, soul and body has shown me how I failed. Yes, I love the Lord and am saved but oh how I didn’t “get it”.
When I got saved at 27 my family thought I went off the deep end and my favorite brother, who later I found out had gotten saved about 7 years before me and never said a word, told me I was in a cult. All we did was read & study the bible together. Yeah, it was in the pastor’s house but we had coffee, kuchen and blue jeans. It was fun.
My mother would instill in us, if you want to get anywhere in this world, work hard. You see, my father left my mother for another dolly. My mom would say you have to push and push and push and when you achieve your goals you can enjoy them and no one will be able to take them away because “you earned them”.
The teaching was true to a point but it left God out. But I didn’t come from a Christian family. Oh yeah, it instilled a sense of pride and excellence in me but later when I got saved and learned it wasn’t me – but God giving me the ability, the knowledge, the ideas, the successes, it was a let down.
It wasn’t about me or my efforts but God had given me certain attributes, gifts, talents, loves and desires and yes, I would need to work at cultivating these, learn, get educated – but because God had given me gifts and talents in these areas the learning was easier, “natural”.
When I learned to play the keyboard, the organ, I can’t tell you how many times people told me – you make it look so easy – I would smile and say, because it is. Then I would show them, teach them. It’s like reading.
I look at all the words to be sure I understand what is written and if I don’t understand a word, I look it up. I can’t help it, that’s just the way God made me. And all my testing growing up in school, the military, exams – I scored the highest in reading comprehension. When I took a type of SAT exam, my highest score, in the 90s, was reading comprehension. If a book doesn’t have a purpose, something to achieve, I don’t read it. So no, I don’t like novels unless the novel has a message to convey like Larry Burkett’s book The Illuminati and the sequel The The Thor Conspiracy excellent. Two of the best novels I’ve ever read.
Needless to say, when I got saved and decided to “read” the scriptures I wanted to understand what God was saying. I would study things out, compare verses. What I didn’t understand at that time was the Scriptures are alive – they have several layers and that’s why you can read a verse and get one thing out of it and read the same verse three months later and get something else out of it. Why share all of this? Because I heard a preacher say – say what God says – we try to understand things before we venture out to do them. We try to reason out the decisions we make. We reason by the way we were raised, or what we think, or what we were taught. But when we do this, we block God from working in and through us.
Proverbs 3:5,6 KJV
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
[6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Just because we don’t understand what’s happening or why it’s happening we are to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. Remember the heart is the gateway to your soul your mind. If trust is in your heart you’re going to believe it in your mind that God loves you has a purpose for you is working through you and in you for His purposes. That’s what Romans 8:28 is all about, you settle it in your heart and mind that I am a child of God, God loves me, God provides for me, God leads me and directs me. We are not told we need to understand, not to understand what God is doing but in all our ways acknowledge Him – another words, say what God says – I’m trusting you Lord I believe your word Lord your words says and quote the word that’s acknowledging God in that area affecting you, in all your ways and he promises He shall direct your path even though you don’t understand it, trust. Now look at Proverbs 16:9 KJV
“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.”
If you have to understand everything or you think everything you have is all because of your efforts, your hard work and things that you have done – you are shutting God down in your life. It is a leap of faith, surrender of your will, and complete trust and confidence in God’s love for you and his plans for you. Saying what God says will change your life. Have you surrendered steering your life and turned the wheel over the God?
3 Meees
My purpose right now, is to help people understand they are 3 people. If people can get a handle on this, they will understand the Godhead (aka Trinity) and they will understand how God made them 3 in 1, too. Why is this important? Let me ask you a few questions:
1. What happens to your mind/soul when you die?
2. Does Satan attack your spirit, soul or body?
Some people mix scripture together and get all mixed up and confused when the scriptures are clear and understandable. Because the word of God is alive, it has several layers of applications. Baptism is showing the old you died and was buried and you are raised in newness of life. You still have the same ” flesh ” before baptism as you do after baptism. It’s not about your flesh in Christ. Your flesh is only a vessel to provide a way for your soul and spirit to accomplish things in this “natural” realm. 1 Corinthians 2:14,15 KJV
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
[15] But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”
When you really, really understand the differences between your spirit, soul and body, scripture comes to life. Okay, you need some samples right?
Romans 8:16 – the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit – not our mind not our flesh but our spirit.
Colossians 3:2 – Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth. Affections are a soul attribute. Your soul is your mind, will and emotions. It does not say, set your flesh on heaven or your spirit, but your soul.
Ephesians 6:12 We wrestle not against flesh & blood but powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness.
What is amazing is when Paul teaches the church, he addresses our flesh, our soul and our spirit.
I tried to put a diagram together to present this in a picture. If you can start to look at things from a point of – does this affect my spirit, my soul or my flesh, you will have great revelation of God’s word. God sees your heart and soul but man only sees your flesh, your outward person. Unlock the Scriptures by looking at what you is God talking to.
There are 3 you (s)
You should be able to right click on this photo and save it to your handheld or computer.
Until next time, have a blessed day.
heavensrecord (c) 